Thursday, December 13, 2007

Zuma likes to Zuma around....

Jacob Zuma's widely anticipated rejoining the feeding frenzy at the head of the trough is nigh. What can we expect. Well Zumy Zuma loves nothing more to zoom around. Because he was naughty he was told to go sit in the kitchen for a bit, but now the man is back. So his past will now illuminate our future. Zuma used to sit one position from the head of the table. In one 8 month period he flew 126 domestic flights in an official state jet. "O3 - I just love you...."

During the first four months of 2000, visits to just KwaZulu-Natal has run up a flight bill of R656,530. It includes two Air Force helicopter flights to see one of his two wives at a cost of more than R67,000. The bulk of the flights have been "official". Twice, in January 2000 and over the Easter weekend, Zuma has been flown in an air force Oryx helicopter to visit MaKhumalo Zuma, who lives at Nkandla in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal. His other wife, Kate Zuma, lives in Johannesburg. These visits alone cost R67,704 at an average cost of R16,926 an hour, according to information supplied by the Air Force. The deputy president has run up further bills of at least R743,559 on other flights this year.

Zuma's spokeswoman, Mathula Magubane, said all flights had been "necessary". "He has to go to his home sometime", she said, not quite explaining where "home" is supposed to be. (or which wife) - {(it is also somewhat interesting to note how often he is accompanied on an international jaunt with Lindiwe Sisulu)} He has been flown on a variety of air force aircraft - including the Falcon 900 and smaller Falcon 50, a transport plane (Casa 212), Oryx and BK117 helicopters, and a twin propeller craft. Their cost in the air ranges between R4,259 and R9,038 an hour.
HOME IS IN THE AIR!!!
In replying to a question in Parliament, Mosiuoa Lekota, Minister of Defence revealed in April 2005 that Zuma made use no less than 21 times of private jets between the period of May 14th, 2004 and January 8th, 2005 (over and above flying with SA Air Force planes). This had cost the taxpayers more than R2 million. The rental of only one of the jets amounted to more than R380,000 because pilots of the SA Air Force were not available to fly Zuma and his entourage from Waterkloof Air Force base in Pretoria to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, and back to Cape Town on August 17th, 2004.

This is not as bad as Zuma's previous flying antics: from January 31st 2004 to October 2004 he undertook 126 domestic flights in one of the state's official jets. But on January 8th, 2005 he flew from Waterkloof to Kenya and back, for which the State had to pay R197,970 to a private jet company. Zuma also undertook various domestic private flights to inter alia Durban, Umtata, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pietermaritzburg.
One flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town cost R93,176,81.
The 03 overdose may have led to the lapses in the then VP's financial brain resulting in him writing 140 bad cheques. Cheque fraud is a crime - There is no death penalty so the law must bite. Many citizens are in prison for cheque fraud. The banks are complicit in shielding the then VP and in their actions have cost ordinary citizens hundreds of thousands. These are ordinary citizens being shafted by the VP avoiding paying what he legally owes them.

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